Art

Pull-the-Dot snaps are more secure for loads away from the opening, but if the load happens on the opening side, well that's how they are supposed to open, they hold better for loads from the other side. DOT does make some snaps, they are made of stainless and they are HEAVY DUTY. They are hard to close and just as hard to open. I have used them on boat covers or something where the wind can get under the cover and pull and they do hold, sun worn covers rip off before the snaps let go. I've seen folks put them on with a hammer and they need a tool to take them off. However, these are NOT the things I would want on a thumb break. Art

Hi Ed, I am not sure I understand your question. If you mean the symmetry or is one side the exact mirror of the other, then trace it and fold the tracing in half, any problems become obvious, then adjust the pattern. You have made a damned nice bag there and you will refine it over time, the more you make the better they get. However, YOU will see every little thing, that is why artisan's work improves over time. Suggestions? sure, offer edge stamping, dyeing, and initials to start, lining or treated back leather as an option, better hardware, special interior sectioning, the sky is the limit. Listen to your customers, they will drive you in some areas. Always get good money for your work, guarantee it, and fix whatever goes wrong quickly and for free, advertise a little, reputation and word of mouth a lot, ask customers (the happy ones) to refer you to others. As far as tools, eyes and fingres are the best ones, that is what the customer is using. Art

Lift-the-Dot are an Eyelet type of fastener with a post that goes all the way through the eyelet, Pull-the-Dot are snap type fasteners usually ligne 24 that only close one way and only open one way. You probably want the Pull-the-Dot from DOT. Sailrite is never the cheapest and they run about $10 for 10 sets, no minimums. http://www.sailrite.com/101099?sc=2&category=7503 Art

Hi Patrice, One picture is generally a better translator: Art

The best synthetic thread made was Rice Nylon, They no longer make it and the supply has just about dried up. Next best is Coats poly (DaBond®) which is now what I consider the finest synthetic available. I use sizes 346 and 277 and sometimes as low as 207 for some dainty little thing. I use 138 for cellphone "holsters" (I don't know of anything I make that somehow doesn't end up looking a little like a holster). For period work I use 4 or 5 cord Barbour's on a needle and awl machine. When I want more of an "old West" feel but want to use poly, I use Eddington which is not wrapped or laid as tightly as Coats (and for a guy who is not wrapped too tightly or laid enough, I guess that's appropriate). Of course, always use left or "Z" twist in and straight needle machine. Get Coats in common stitcher sizes and colors from Ferdco. Smaller put-ups and sizes and more colors of Coats can be found at SFS (Shoe Factory Supply), ask for Dan Bussey, 800-256-3892. Get Eddington and Barbours threads from Campbell Bosworth. Art

Hi Vince, The pedal varies the speed depending on how far it is depressed, however there are either a hi/lo speed switch and/or a knob you can adjust for the speed range, most have both now a days. Low speed control is pretty good no mater what the speed range; with everything on high and no speed reducer it will go like a scalded cat. With everything on low and a speed reducer it's slower than hand stitching. Some of the variations had a reverse toggle on them; can't imagine that thing causing anything but trouble. Art

Hi Ed, Them's thread strippers and I use them to remove the excess oil from thread coming out of the lube pot. Size 346 can pull a bunch of lube out with it and it dribbles off the primary thread tension and generally gets all over; and this solves that little problem. I purchased the whole pot from Ferdco and it is for the 441. I had to do a little grinding to get the pot to fit on the bigger 4000P, but it only took about 15 seconds (belt grinders work great). This pot has two strippers in case you want to lube a bobbin without unthreading the primary. You get a much more even thread feed with this setup. Ron might just sell the strippers but the whole setup wasn't that expensive. The Campbell uses a little different setup with some BIG strippers, probably more so because they are the also used for tension, the Campbell uses timing to stop and lock thread when it needs to and these big strippers apply any tension needed to stop any inertial problems. Notice a stripper before the thread goes into the pot and after it comes out. The one out of the pot strips any excess lube. You can buy these parts from Campbell also. Art

Hi Mike, Rivet setting it on a long anvil that goes up through the bell. However, it is just way easier to run a tap through the hole and screw it on with a Chicago screw (use a little Loctite to be sure). Art

Hi Ed, When using smaller feet and lighter material it may be necessary to cut back on the presser foot pressure/tension. The bigger foot will have a larger area in contact with the material and can distribute that pressure well, whereas with the smaller foot the area is reduced considerably and the spring is still exerting the same pressure in a smaller area maybe compressing the leather too much or pulling it a bit. If you like the little foot (you are not alone, I don't really love the Artisan foot that came with mine) try backing-off the pressure foot tension screw on top of the machine here: I use this double foot for almost anything and it distributes the pressure quite evenly. I got this from Steve at Artisan at one of the shows. Art

Hi Ken, I can never seem to find anything at Home Depot, I have used Lowe's forever and just can't adjust to HD. If you have a local "Real" hardware store (I do) you may be able to find things like Lexol and Dr. Jacksons and many good chemicals and glues that can work in a pinch, those places are a dieing breed around here. Art

Hi Patrice, Make sure you have plenty of fresh air when using contact cement. Art

If you buy one from Dale, your wife or kids can probably sell it. Art

Hi Patrice, Apply Barge cement to each side you want to stick together and let it dry until it is tacky. When cement dries tacky, stick sides together. Barge is a contact cement so there is no opportunity to unstick them once they are put together. You can then clamp with spring clamps and let dry for 1/2 hour or if in a hurry just sew as the pieces will stay together. You can Hammer lightly to set the glue better. Keep the cement to the outside of the stitch line so when you turn right side out you won't see the glue. Over time stitches may show a little so choose colour accordingly. You could use a white glue like tanners bond (Fiebing) but you need to clamp it up and wait a half hour or so for it to get some strength. If you are depending on contact cement or white glue for some of the construction strength, rough up the grain side a little before applying the glue. Art

Hi Skip, Clones. I have seen and used quite a few, and talked with more than a few purveyors. They are all for the most part made in factories in China (mainland) and Tiawan. The castings may or may not be made by the same factories. The insides may be made in China (mainland), Tiawan, South Korea, the Asian sub-continent, Japan, Mexico, Germany, or the United States. The parts mix is determined by the purveyor and it all comes together in China or Tiawan, then the finished product is shipped back here. So some are vanilla Chinese clones, born and bred, some are hybrids. This is all done to meet a price target that the purveyor thinks will make his product competitive, and he hopes reliable. Some of the sellers have been in this market and business long enough to get this right, maybe some haven't. I've seen some come out of the box with cosmoline (or whatever sticky gooy crud they use to preserve them in storage) on them and others come to you complete and ready to sew what you requested it to, put the head on the stand, attach belt, plug in and sew. The job of the seller is to get all this stuff together and set-up and then shipped to you, because you are NOT a factory with a bunch of machine techs who setup and maintain their machines to make them perform. If there is a big difference in price, ask yourself why. It has to be Quality, Service, Profit. If the price is lower, what's missing, and is that acceptable to you. Artisan, Ferdco, Luberto, and now Weaver are the "Big Four" here in the US for the clones, and the prices and products are comparable. You'll get good Quality and Service from all of them. You'll see all of them at major shows, and if you don't, then I would give them a pass. I want someone there when I need them, on the phone or in person. And yes some of the cost of my machine is in them going to these shows, but I get to sew as much as I want on what I am interested in while there and badger them with questions so it is worth it. If you want a Mach 1 go up to Leightos's and sew the hell out of one, if you like it and are ok with their service, then buy it, as far as that goes, put it in the back seat and trunk, tell the customs guys you bought it there and pay the duty (if any, there is NAFTA you know), it can't be much. Remember, you generally buy one of these ONCE for a small shop, any you'll never wear it out. So why not buy a good one even if it is expensive, if you like it, buy it so you can start using it. Another point; good clones are sometimes better than the originals. Even the Juki 441s needed modification to make them really good for leatherwork. Leatherwork is a really small segment of the sewing world, not so in the haydays before synthetics; these clones (Artisan, Ferdco, Weaver, and others) are designed for leatherwork, something the major manufacturers (Juki, Adler, Pfaff) aren't doing anymore, there is just not a big market for them. So it is take a big commercial big name machine designed to sew synthetics and safety gear and modify it to sew leather (with the corresponding Juki, Adler, or Pfaff pricetag), or design a machine with those mods and have it made in Asia. This is why we still use the old iron so much, it was made to do the work we want, definately NOT what the rest of the synthetic world is doing. Art

Please Everyone, Try to be sure to recommend only the BEST steaks or steakhouses, because there are some of us who will try, before we die, to get to every one of these places. Now, if anyone knows of a place called the Five Star Restaurant, about two or so hours East of Philly that I managed to find about 1975, I would dearly like to find it again, been looking for the past 10 or 15 years but haven't come up with it. I had a Strip steak there that was just, well, undescribable. So flavorful and sooo big, when I take enough home to eat another meal and have it still taste as good, well you know why I have been looking. Art

A little big to be a hobo, they are not near the size of their Australian cousins. Hobos seldom get more than 1/2 inch and Holly lives in Pennsylvania whereas most Hobos are in the Northwest (US). She looks like our pretty common Wolf spider (Lycosidae, Genus Hogna, species probably helluo), they are sight hunters (Hobos are funnel webs) and pretty much decimate the local insect populations that they can get at. They can be quite big and scary but have excellent eyesight and don't want to have a lot to do with you, and like most, seldom bite unless provoked; bites can hurt but are seldom medically significant. You know, the more I look at that critter the more she looks like a grass spider, kind of wierd to see her out of a web though. Size seems a little large too, they are slightly poisonous but really fast and outside of a web (usually on the lawn) you would have a hard time swatting one. Like the Hobo, they are funnel web spiders. I daughter + one flip-flop = No Wolfs (or any spiders for that matter) in the house! As a kid, I was on the receiving end of a nasty bite buy a spider I could not identify, from then on I was in the "know thy enemy" camp and for the most part we mutually exist. Art

Hi Johanna, If you make it to Ft. Worth, I'll take you out for a steak in Ft. Worth (there ought to be at least a couple of places in Ft. Worth that know how to cook). You'll have to put-up with the missus as she likes steak too. We'll be in Austin/San Ant for first part of week but should be up to Ft.Worth by Thursday. Maybe we can get a group together. Art

Hi Regis, Reliable 2000U33 $499 Sailrite LSZ-1 $750 Consew CP146R $499 AlphaSew PWZ-200 $399 Olde Thompson PWZ-500 ??? They are all Zigzag portables 7". All made in the same factory in China a little south (like in suburb) of Shanghai. Finish a little different for most, some have handles, some have cases, some have portable beds, some have more extensive upgrades but most are bolt-ons. They are all going to work and feed the same. I think allbrands will have most of them (it will be a drop ship sometimes), sailrite has theirs exclusively, and thompson (or now Olde Thompson) who knows. There is a difference between the Thompson (older model) and the Olde Thompson (newer model, go figure). Just trying to confuse the average leatherworking male. Art

Regis, Get straight with whoever you buy from that if it don't sew what you want it to sew, they will take it back. Sewing machines are really a buyers market. Art

Hi Regis, It would be interesting but I could see how something like this could run off the tracks, especially with no possible rebuttal. The are some folks who just shouldn't own machines and have nothing but problems and even catastrophies with perfectlly useable equipment. I can just imagine someone in the ultimate moment of frustration taking computer in hand and turning up the flame, perfectly valid from their point of view, but accurate? I would much rather try and get that person up and running than read a scathing review. If you want to review a machine, I have no problem seeing it in the Leather Sewing Machines forum, but I would hate to see someone pass up a machine because of an unrebuttable bad review. We want to maintain the integrity of Leatherworker.net and to do so we (or whomever is moderating, ME in Leather Sewing Machines) would have to seriously fact check and maybe even mediate a bad review before letting it stand, or even review the reviews before they are posted. However anyone should be able to post their experiences and if they are problems ask for help, and the experience and cooperation of the group should work toward getting things fixed. Now good reviews; I'm always happy to see someone who enjoys their machine or experience. However ultimately, Johanna will have to say how something like this will work or not. Art

Here's what it also says: "Heavy materials and multiple layers prove no match for our explosive built-in walking foot." I don't know if I would have phrased it that way. Cutting through the crud, the sailrite and the tuffsew use the same casting I think, what they put inside is another story. If I am buying a portable, I will go with the 7" over the 9" it is just smaller and that is what you want, isn't it? I know the sailrite is a good machine with more canvas oriented features than the tuffsew, like get the leather foot instead of the standard canvas foot, it won't mark as much. The canvas foot is quite agressive, of course, that's what they make grinders for. Sailrite also makes left and right feet. I don't have a machine I haven't taken a file or grinder to for modifications that make life easier, it IS my machine. You guys are of course doing the guy thing (I know I R one), you're comparing instead of sewing; just buy something and don't look over your shoulder, if it don't work, sell it and get something that does. Art

Appetizer combo plate is the best thing at Bennigan's. Best Steak, The Big Easy, 1995 CA Technicon (a Computer Associates sponsored geek fest), a restaurant on Bourbon Street on the corner two blocks up and on the other side from the Maiden Voyage (great strip club), can't remember the name but I know right where it is or was. Prime rib was one of the specials and I asked if the chef could "Blacken" it for me, the response was "Sir, this is New Orleans". And he was correct. I have been searching for something even remotly comparable for the last 12 years to no avail. But we stayed there for two weeks and went everywhere from local joints for plain meals to even localer joints for Poor Boys, never thought of eating fast food, and really there aren't too many of that ilk down there. From $2 for breakfast to $3 or $4 for a Po'Boy, to some of the best damned soups on earth, it was like gastronomic heaven. Everyone down there knows how to cook, and the ones who do it for a living REALLY know how to cook, because you serve something not up to par and you're going out of business. Did eat at the Country Kitchen and it was fall down great, no way to explain it. Art

Tandy made some of those and I do have some around here, but who knows where. Anyway you could make your own, I would pull the bullets, dump out powder, fill cases with WD-40 and leave for a couple days. Test by trying to fire a primer and trying to heat with torch, take precautions for the shell exploding and fragmenting if the primer is not dead, but WD-40 almost always kills them. Saw off the case head with a dremel or on the lathe. Clean them up and put a fair size piece of solder in each one. Solder on a rivet head, post head, or whatever will fit into the head. Do absolutely at your own risk. I shure wouldn't go to all that trouble (especially if you need more than just a couple) if I could find some already made by someone. If you want them made for you, get ahold of Harold at Texhas Harold@texhas.com by email. I know he has a 1" shotgun shell base concho but that is all I've seen. Art

Board working fine on Firefox Version 1.5.0.7 here. Art

Hi Pat, Servo Motor produces full motor power at any speed since you can have a closed loop and Variable Frequency Drive and the Hall sensor to allow for as much or as little current as required to maintain the desired speed. AC motors only have their power when running at the rated motor speed e.g. 1725 or 3450 rpm. Clutch motors run at rated speed and engage through a clutch when you push the pedal down. You can "feather" the clutch a bit like a car (except they work in opposite directions) but basically when the clutch is fully engaged the machine is running at full speed. To way overly sinplify (and incorrectly to boot) Servo = Automatic Transmission Clutch = Manual Transmission. The basic home sewing machine motor is (or used to be) an AC motor with a potentiometer foot control of various designs that varied the voltage. The only time you get full power is when the pedal is to the metal, anything under that drops the voltage and hence the power (power that you need for leather), it scrubs this power off as heat and that is why your foot control gets hot when you run the machine slow. This would not work well in an industrial situation and that is why industrial machines have a table with the motor underneath and full speed motors with plenty of power. Since the 80s, you will occasionally see computer controlled DC motors on the higher end home sewing machines. AC motor home machines just don't develop the power at lower speeds and are only really good for 6oz or less at slow speeds. Constant use on heavy leather (even if the machine head is built like a tank) will eventually toast the motor though. If you have one of those baklite button controllers, sew with your shoes on because slow speed running will get that thing hot enough to blister your tootsies. Art